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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Bleedover Blog Tour: GIVEAWAY & Author Interview with Curtis Hox

Welcome to another fantastic feature here on Gathering Leaves! Today, my special guest is Mr. Curtis Hox, author of the profound novel, Bleedover. Bleedover is the kind of novel that really gets you thinking. In case you missed my review, you can find it HERE.

Curtis has been kind enough to join me for a little Q&A session so you all can get to know more about him and his work. Be sure to stick around after the interview and enter the giveaways -- an ecopy of Bleedover and your chance at a $50 gift card!

Author Interview
Curtis Hox
Bleedover

GL: Please give us your intro/blurb.

Curtis: An intriguing phenomenon in literature and arts. A maverick professor's quest to find answers. And a discovery that will shock the world.

Books, TV, film, advertising. It’s all being mysteriously altered, and no one knows why. Dr. Harriet Sterling claims she understands, even if no one believes her. She calls it the New Phenomenon of Bleedover.

She's alone, though, because the science establishment stands in her way. When trusted graduate students generate an apple out of thin air in a controversial bleedover project, the world takes notice. So does an old enemy thirsty for revenge, Corbin Lyell, who manipulates bleedover to hurtle monstrosities from the world of his pulp heroes, H.P. Lovecraft and R.E. Howard.

Dr. Sterling must stop Lyell's apocalyptic plans, but with enemies on all sides undermining her discovery, can she succeed?

With a heady mixture of serious literature and genre fiction, Bleedover dazzles as a thought-provoking work of science fiction and contemporary fantasy that both inspires and entertains.

GL: Can you please tell us a little about Bleedover?

CH: It’s a novel that imagines a world in which the stories we tell become real and bleedover into reality. That’s it, really. It revolves around a university professor’s attempt to explain this with a rational method.

GL: What was the inspiration for this novel?

CH: I wanted a rational explanation for things like divinities walking the streets of New York (the premise of a novel I wrote before Bleedover). I’ve been thinking about it for some time, even before Gaiman’s American Gods. It also stemmed from an urge to rationalize the fantastic in a way that doesn’t, de facto, accept them as a given. I wanted all the tropes we love in fantasy, but I wanted to explain how they could exist through some system of scientific inquiry.

GL: Which character did you pour most of yourself into? Who do you relate to the most?

CH: The three main characters: Hattie, Masumi, and Towns all have certain aspects of my own thinking. Hattie is the driven person in pursuit of a rational metaphysics, who also maintains a space for the mystical. Masumi is the supreme skeptic, while Towns is the wide-eyed student ready for anything

GL: Was there a character or situation you had more difficulty developing?

CH: Developing the main character so that she was driven and determined, yet still likeable, (while not being supremely heroic) took work.

GL: Any outtakes? Anything or anyone you really wanted in that just didn’t make the cut?

CH: I originally had R.E. Howard’s character Conan make an appearance. But I removed it for copyright issues.

GL: What led you to choose self-publishing?

CH: I realized self-publishing is also a great way to grow as a writer. I knew I’d just keep writing for myself, while ignoring the business side of publishing, unless I did something soon. I also had plenty of feedback from people who said I should.

GL: What challenges have you faced during the publishing/marketing process?

CH: Learning the indie publishing business, of course. My wife, though, has been a huge help with this. She enjoys marketing, so we make a good team. She has to work extra hard, though, because my material has always been difficult. I went out of my way for years to write in a way that was challenging to myself and to the reader. And the current state of indie publishing seems to reward very genre oriented writing, which is great, but carving a niche will be my challenge.

GL: First of all, you have certainly succeeded in writing a novel that is challenging yet still absolutely enjoyable for the reader. And, your wife is AMAZING! She has been a joy to work with, from my end. I know she is a valuable asset for you...

GL: Without whom could you just not have made it through writing/publishing?

CH: My wife.

GL: If it were possible, what book(s) would you love to travel into?

CH: Great question! I’ll just pick one: the Bible, so I could run around with a camera and record what really happened, then show it to all the literalists out there and watch them squirm.

GL: It would be so hard for me to choose. The Bible, for sure. I love the idea of making the literalists squirm :-). Lord of the Rings - the pretty places, like Rivendell! Hmmm...

GL: What would you like to bring out of a book or film?

CH: I’m not sure what you mean. But this sounds like something directly related to the premise of Bleedover. If I could go into a book and return with something (an element that does happen in my novel), I’d have to go into Star Wars and come back with a light saber, of course. Hell, I’d come back with my own X-Wing. Then again, I could go into the world of Battlestar Galactica and come back with Number 6, but then my wife wouldn’t be so happy with me.

GL: Haha! That's exactly what I meant. I didn't want to give too much of the book away, though. I kinda like one of the important things the main character brings over ;-). Or just being able to go back and visit lost loved ones...

GL: What book have you read that was completely uncharacteristic for you (maybe you read a steamy romance when you usually read horror)? What did you think?

CH: I once read a Daniel Steele novel (I even remember the name: Full Circle) when I was fifteen because a girlfriend at the time liked it. What a sucker I was.

GL: Do you have any other work published or do you plan to publish anything soon?

CH: I have a few short stories published, but I plan to release several completed novels in the next year or two.

GL: What do you do when you just want some down time for yourself?

CH: Lately, write. Watch some good TV serials. Even play some video games (but I have so little time for that now) like Gran Turismo 5.

GL: Any unique talents, hobbies or habits?

CH: I have a habit of never getting everything my wife wants when she sends me the grocery store.

GL: I don't think that is unique. I think it is written in the male DNA. ;-)

GL: Most interesting place you’ve visited and/or person you’ve met?

CH: I lived in Salvador Da Bahia (Brazil) for a few years. Think great music, dancing, and fun people. When I lived in NYC I met a guy in the East Village who believed he was a stork and used to stand on one leg. I lived on Tenth and B and I’d see him standing there all the time. I’d give him a thumbs up and he’d start hopping up and down. He never told me his real name, though.

GL: Hmmm...interesting...

Thanks so much for stopping by on your tour and sharing your fantastic novel with us! I wish you all the best with your future endeavors and look forward to having you on all your book tours! :-)

I've written six unpublished contemporary, literary science fantasy novels in the last decade, all of which I finished and promptly put away. I didn't even let my wife read one until this year. (I know, ultra critical and self defeating as hell, but that's me.) I've done rounds of agent hunting with little luck, and since everyone is talking about e-publishing, I thought I'd give it a try by self publishing Bleedover and by writing a series of three YA novels with all the juicy stuff I love from science fiction and fantasy and just have fun with it. Those turned into the Transhuman Warrior Series (currently being edited). I’m also forcing myself to be open to everything that goes along with the business side of marketing without griping, "Frack it! I just want to write."

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